The downvoting function that Elon Musk's X, formerly Twitter, is working on will help with reply ranking. The company has not yet made an official announcement regarding its plans, but techcrunch reports suggest the downvote feature might more closely resemble a "dislike" button than a downvote icon roughly equivalent to Reddit.
Previous testing of downvoting button
Prior to Elon Musk's acquisition in 2021, the company tested downvoting on Twitter. However, Twitter had tested both upvoting and downvoting buttons on all posts at the time of the initial experiment.
According to a TechCrunch report, the X app for iPhones now has code references that point directly to a "downvote" feature and display a button that looks like a broken heart icon next to the app's heart-shaped "like" button.
Aaron Perris, , discovered references to a downvote feature that seemed to be under development in X's iOS app. In addition to more explicit references to the feature itself, he has now discovered additional image files in the iOS app that suggest the button might be designed to resemble a broken heart.
X, formerly Twitter, is only thinking about permitting downvotes on replies in order to help highlight the best responses at the top of a lengthy thread and push the less well-liked replies further down the thread.
This could stop users from posting things on social media that are meant to enrage others and from attempting to stir up dislikes in an effort to increase engagement.
EU's remarks on blue tick
On July 12, the European Commission said Elon Musk's X's blue checkmarks are misleading and that the online platform does not meet requirements for accountability and transparency. These charges are based on the European Union's new social media regulations, called DSA (Digital Services Act), that went into effect on July 12.
Elon Musk acquired X (formerly Twitter) in 2022. After acquisition, there have been a lot of systemic changes in the inner workings of X (formerly Twitter), be it the cutting of the workforce or making users pay for BlueTick.
